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6 Essential Steps to get Funding for Your Startup

With the GITEX Startup Movement picking up speed it’s time to discuss the essential steps you need to take to get funding for your startup

So you have your innovative idea for a new tech startup, but now comes the hard part of actually finding the money to turn that idea into a reality.

As the world’s long history of failed startups shows us, transforming the tech world does not come cheap. One of the most common reasons for a failed startup is the simple fact of not securing enough funding to get its ideas off the ground.

So for all you ambitious tech entrepreneurs waiting for the right investment to come along, below you’ll find a rundown of some essential tips to help you securing the funding to get your innovations off the ground:

1. KNOW THYSELF

Before you can even think about sitting down with potential investors, it’s essential that you know everything there is to know about your business, product, customers and competition.

This will be an important first step to planning your startup’s business plan and understanding what investors are looking for, what they invest in and how your startup measure up.

Most importantly this will prepare you for getting grilled by potential investors, who will easily be one of the toughest audiences your startup will have to face.

Every forgotten stat, vague strategy or misunderstood trend will be pounced on by any worthwhile investor, so make sure you know your own business front and back if you expect them to trust you enough to invest their own money with you.

2. BUILD A GREAT TEAM

You can show as potential investors as many pie charts as you want, but much of the time investors are putting their money into people, not just ideas.

Make sure you build the most passionate and capable team of entrepreneurs and when you have them, make sure you shout about them.

Technical and academic skills are all well and good, but investors also want to see people with real business experience, who have worked at building up a startup in the past.

3. PERFECT YOUR PITCH

The only way you going to be able attract investment in your startup is by telling people about it, which means that you need to begin perfecting your investment pitch.

This should be able to get across all of your unique features and business strengths in as short a time as possible.

One of the quickest ways of doing this is to simply present your pitch as much as possible. By subjecting your ideas to real scrutiny you can quickly learn how to counter any investor concerns while giving yourself the chance to identify gaps in your business plan you might have overlooked.

4. MAKE THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

Instead of approaching random people for investment it’s vital that you do your homework on what kind of investor you’re looking to attract and why you feel they’ll benefit your startup.

Deciding beforehand exactly what kind of investment you are looking for can save yourself from having to do business with people who are not right for your startup, but who suddenly own a large part of it.

This can be done through a successful networking campaign, which helps ensure you speak with and compare a whole host of potential investors, while earning valuable referrals to connect with the hard to reach VCs who can provide the most value to your startup.

5. SHOW THEM THE MONEY

One of the biggest investment obstacles you’ll have to face is one simple fact: investors know better than anyone how hard it is to turn a great idea into a product that actually makes money.

Before any investor considers trusting you with their money, they’re going to want to see any evidence of progress or traction from your startup.

The more evidence you have that people are actually prepared to spend money on your product, the less of a leap of faith you’ll be asking any potential investors to make.

6. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

The hardest to investor to convince for any startup is always the first one, as investors hold off on making any commitments until they see momentum behind your idea.

Therefore it can be vital that a startup believes enough in their idea to take the first step and begin funding it themselves.

This can as simple as producing your first functioning prototype as a physical example for investors to see what they are spending their money on, to investing in securing a place at a startup event or exhibition which can provide you with some invaluable marketing and publicity.

INNOVATION ISNT’T CHEAP

Sometimes coming up with the world changing idea can be the easy part.

By following some of the above advice and by relying on your natural entrepreneurial style and dedication, you can hopefully ensure your startup doesn’t fail before it even gets off the ground.

So stop waiting for that perfect investment to fall into your lap and start showing the wold that you’re an investment it can’t afford to miss out on.

GITEX Technology Week 2016, taking place this 16-20 October at Dubai World Trade Centre, is bringing together 400 startup companies from all over the globe will be in attendance to share their ideas, network with investors and ultimately pitch their startup for a chance to win vital funding from some of the world’s leading venture capitalists.

GITEX Technology Week. Where startups do business

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